Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Corbin moved his hand away. “Better not touch just yet. Damn, that looks painful. Your whole body looks like shit. What happened? All we got from the guys who called it in was they scared some dudes off in the alley behind Jumpers. The cops are here.”
“A lot of it is fuzzy. All I know is they planned to kill me. Called me rich boy, so I’m pretty sure they knew who I was.”
“I’ll get the officers. They’ve been waiting to take your report.” He hurried from the room.
Ezra told the two policemen everything, sure it would do no good because he couldn’t give descriptions or any real details. Most of it was a hazy memory of nothing but pain. When he relayed what his attacker had said about being paid, though, the officers exchanged grim looks. After he was finished, the senior officer handed him a business card.
“Since they were hired and failed, whoever is after you will likely try again. You need protection. We can send a car to watch your place—”
Ezra cut him off. “I’ll take care of that. It’ll be covered.” He sure as hell didn’t think a police car outside his huge apartment building would do any good.
“We’ll let you know what our investigation turns up,” the younger cop said as they left.
Corbin hurried back into the room. “I heard everything. What did you mean you got it covered?”
“There’s this security company I’ve heard of. They have bodyguards. I’ll just hire one.” He slowly lifted his hand. “Hand me my phone.”
“I’ll do it, but let me give you some advice first.”
Ezra tried to smirk, but his lips wouldn’t work. “And what would that be?”
“Be nice to the guy. Don’t piss him off like you do everyone else. I know you don’t think much of yourself, but you’re important. To me, okay? And you should be more important to yourself, so don’t fuck this up.”
Chapter Four
Alaric
There were only three doors in the hallway of the top floor of the apartment building—all spaced far apart. Ezra Forsberg was clearly living in style. Which made sense considering his family’s wealth. Alaric reached the door, hefted his satchel to one hand, and rang the bell. He’d already shown his credentials to the porter at the front desk, so Ezra knew he was coming.
The door opened slowly, and Alaric had to work not to show his surprise.
It wasn’t the myriad of colorful bruises marring porcelain skin, no. It was his face. Ezra was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen, with wide-set brown eyes framed by softly rounded cheeks. His upper lip jutted out in a sexy reverse pout, though his bottom lip was split and swollen. Those dark brown eyes looked him over with obvious interest, though there was something kind of sly about his expression. His hair was silky black, short on the sides and longer on top, so strands fell half over one eye. He was tall, nearly six feet, and slim. Very slim.
“You Alaric Denman?” Ezra’s gaze slid over the black headband Alaric wore to cover his pointed ears.
He wasn’t sure why Xavier had insisted he wear it, along with the contacts that masked his bright purple eyes. He normally used a glamour to hide those two things that set him apart from humans. But Xavier knew what he was doing. Even if, as usual, he didn’t feel the need to elaborate on his request. His employer was cryptic like that.
When Alaric didn’t reply at once, Ezra’s swollen lips twisted in a caricature of a smile. “Or are you just another assassin trying to eighties me to death?”
Alaric would have lobbed some snark in reply, but his nerves were too jangled by the wounds he could sense and smell healing on Ezra’s body. Xavier had told him Ezra had been worked over, nearly killed, and from the looks of him, he was lucky people had noticed what was going on and stepped in. A lot of his aches ran bone deep.
He took refuge in professionalism. “Yes, I’m with Protective Solutions.” He held out his hand to shake Ezra’s, but the man was already moving back from the door. He was cradling his side, hunched over. The distance helped Alaric regain his equilibrium. “You can sit back down and rest while we go over what you need from me.” He set his bag down, then shut and locked the door behind him.
Ezra shuffled to his couch and gingerly settled into the cushions. “What’s to go over? Someone is trying to kill me, and I hired you to keep that from happening. Simple.”
The snide tone set Alaric’s teeth on edge. “To do that, I need to know a few things. Like what your normal day looks like. I have the information you gave Xavier, but I’d like to find out more.”